Remember, in 1985 GM was #1. #1 doesn't try harder....or at all. "Too big to fail" was the thinking of the day, along with the idea that THEY knew what customers wanted/needed, despite a shifting demographic of buyers.
sh*t happens. The quality of our 81 Delta 88 was quite good. We were the second owner so who knows how many of the defects were fixed. Our 0 owner 2017 Challenger GT, the horn didn't work. Somehow passed the inspection. Unfortunately sh*t happens. Stuff like this and dumping these cars for generic FWD cars is why GM'S market share isn't what it used to be. Remember they sold over a million Olds that year, number 2 overall!
The 87 quality seems better than the 85. Although the striping didn't get any better. You can see slight waves here and there on both. I guess when you're building 40 zillion of the same body style car because it WAS very popular back then, you're bound to find a car every now and then that wasn't put together just quite right. It's not that it's bad, but I still don't see how the 85 passed through some of the QC inspections during assembly. I really don't.
Read John DeLoreans book On a Clear Day you can see general motors
Even in the mid 80's the Japanese were out pacing us. They had already gone with fuel injection on a lot of cars and were pushing customer service. I was a drive ability tech then and opening my shops. Computerized carbs were the norm for GM and they ran like crap until GM started getting serious with it. Lots of BS problems that should and could have been avoided but due to the huge bureaucracy they failed
You could tell which cars were built on a Monday, when everybody was hungover. Or on a Friday when everybody just wanted to get the hell to the bar and start their weekend. 🤔
I hear u on the quality control. I have an 86 MCSS. Never been wrecked. Always garaged. Super low miles. The fit and finish is lacking to say the least. Fenders and doors dont really line up like u think they would. Everything functions fine. Heck i put a new head liner in it and i noticed they had drilled 3 holes on 1 side to install the coat hooks. Really GM. No wonder these cars get such a bad reputation. Still love her though.
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